It is quite natural that landlords and renters fight face-to-face when the time comes to negotiate the lease for coming year. There will be several arguments and confusion, but you must not threaten or abuse your landlord. If he or she becomes angry, your plan will be backfired. However, there are other renters also who can understand your situation and modify the terms of the documents as per your current financial situation.
There are different reasons for which a landlord decides whether or not to extend the lease duration. The majority of the landlord's decision depends on the good behavior of a tenant. Landlords are willing to lower the monthly rental, but not without getting something in return.
Many renters often negotiate with the lender during the month of February. As per the report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people are likely to shift from one rental apartment to another the time between the late spring and early fall. Kids normally have their summer vacation just after the spring. During the summer season, parents have plenty of time to sort their things out before the new session starts.
But those who want to live in the same rental apartment normally find new ways to convince their landlords to lower the usual rent. So, if you are one of those renters, you can consider these methods to build a favorable situation so that your landlord may lower next year's rent:
1. Research well
Before offering a lower rent amount, you first need to know the current running rental rates that other landlords have accepted recently in your neighborhood. Know that exact amount and compare all the units. You can easily get required information free on several real estate websites like Zillow.com, Trulia.com, and Apartmentfinder.com, etc.
2. Know landlord’s opinion
Another great way to present your offer to the landlord is to ask his precious advice. You need to pretend that you are right now in a financial crunch and can’t find a way out. That’s why you are seeking an expert’s advice from the landlord. Asking for guidance may ease up the situation and it'll be a lot friendlier for you to request him lowering the rent.
3. Build relationship and trust
Landlords prefer those tenants who think about the landlords’ benefits also. If a tenant really likes his apartment and the landlord by heart, he can refer others to fill other vacant apartments or promote positive feedback in social media platforms. The tenant can also engage himself in several get-together within the apartment building. Through this behavior, the tenant may build a positive impression on the landlord’s mind.
4. Prove yourself
As a tenant, you need to represent yourself as a trustworthy, reliable, and courteous person. Don’t forget, any landlord will look for a worthy tenant who is regular on his monthly rent, always takes good care of the rental apartment, keep noise under control, and maintain all the terms and conditions written in the agreement. Your good conduct will always be your strength.
5. Explain yourself to the landlord
It's very usual for a tenant to forget to pay the rent on time. If you are currently having any financial issues, the best option is, to be honest with your landlord and explain why you were late. A landlord will be more considerable and forgiving if he knows your actual situation. Once or twice being late on payments can be ignored by a wise landlord. But if it happens every month, he will not consider it anymore.
6. Call for backup
Just because you are taking the lease that doesn't mean you can manage all the negotiation. You must bring your guardians - like parents, friends or any other mature person who can sign as a guarantor. You must have some experienced people behind you as a backup, may be friends or relatives.
7. The last option
If your landlord is still unconvinced, you might inform him that you're going to publish a review of the building and of course about the landlord. If as a tenant you have a bad experience with the landlord, the feds will burn the building. It’ll surely count as a threat to you. But at this point, when you've done everything possible just to make him believe in you, it's the last option for you. This is a very drastic or hard decision. Your negative reviews can hurt the goodwill of the property as well as the landlord's reputation. He might not be able to attract good tenants in future. So, considering you as a threat, he may give you a chance to renew the lease at a lower monthly rent.